A conductive ink is an ink that results in a printed object that conducts electricity. The transformation from liquid ink to solid printing may involve drying, curing or melting processes.
These inks may be classed as fired high solids systems or PTF (polytetrafluoroethylene) polymer thick film systems that allow circuits to be drawn or printed on a variety of substrate materials such as polyester to paper. These types of inks usually contain conductive materials such as powdered or flaked silver and carbon-like materials, although polymeric conduction is also known.
Conductive inks can be a more economical way to lay down conductive traces when compared to traditional industrial standards such as etching copper from copper plated substrates to form the same conductive traces on relevant substrates, as printing is a purely additive process producing little to no waste streams which then have to be recovered or treated.